A Love That Could Never Be
by Apocalyptic-Fairytale
Summary: UPDATED! "Cradling her in his arms, Cloud felt his world crashing down." A one shot of Aerith's death. I tried to stick as close to the game as possible. CloudxAerith CloudxAeris Clourith Clerith Cleris


**A Love That Could Never Be**

The air was dark and heavy. A bright light was shining on a crystalline alter surrounded by clear water.

There was a delicate female figure amongst the heavenly glow. Her hands clasped together in prayer. She looked innocent, and happy. At the same time he felt a warm feeling spreading in him, after finally finding her, he couldn't ignore the icy burn aching in his heart as he realized that he could have killed her if he had not stopped. Shock and fear was rushing through his veins as he dropped the heavy sword that he almost pierced her heart with. And as it came crashing to the floor he stepped back, in shock of what he could have done to her. As a loud thud rang through the air, she looked up at him, a soft smile playing on her lips. The blonde saw the smile that was gently caressing her face, and couldn't help but notice its shear beauty and how it resembled a flower. He loved that smile.

And for a quick moment, he gazed at her evergreen eyes, and his breath was nearly taken away.

He finally found her.  
She was safe.  
No one could hurt her now...

Time stopped in his mind as he looked upon the woman. It was as if everyone but himself and her had vanished. For one moment was all that he had left with her before she would be taken away from him forever.

The light suddenly darkened as a dark figure fell from the sky. Sword in hand. He fell faster and faster until the dark figure's sword pierced the very heart of the woman in front of Cloud.

Cloud couldn't do anything. He was paralyzed. He was useless. He failed the one he wanted to protect most in this lonely world. And as he saw the thin blade cut through her abdomen, suddenly, his hearing went dead... and all he could hear was the loud dead thud of his heart pounding... like a hammer against cloth.

Cloud averted his gaze from her slowly fading eyes and looked into the eyes of her killer. His face resembled a snake.  
His name,  
Sephiroth.

A vile smirk was on Sephiroth's face as he ripped the sword from the woman's back. The cold steel shreading her flesh as it made way from her quickly dying body. Slowly tearing her heart apart. Blood gushed up from her throat rushing to her mouth and a taste of copper invaded her senses as she began to fall forward. Her life still faintly there. But her smile remained as strong as it was the first time Cloud saw her.

As if his own life was gone too, Cloud moved forward in a mindless manner, catching her cold body in his arms before she could hit the floor. He knelt, her blood staining his clothes.

Cradling her in his arms, Cloud felt his world crashing down.

Her head fell back revealing a drip of warm blood at the corner of her lips. Their faces only a few inches apart as he desperately tried to shake her precious life back into her body.

His hand was on the back of her neck, holding her face up, so he could look upon her face. The cold of her skin clashed with the texture of his clammy hand. And in that moment Cloud slowly realized that she was gone. He shook her again as he felt a burning in his eyes, a glaze of tears quickly spreading. His now lifeless blue eyes darted back and forth across her face, as if waiting for her eyes to open and give him the feeling that everything was alright. But her eyes wouldn't open. And nothing would ever be alright.

Cloud shook her again as he said her name in a hoarse whisper; "Aerith..." his voice cracking from the great sadness of losing her.  
He said her name again, "...Aerith." he knew no matter how many times he said her name, she would still be gone. But to him, saying her name hindered the lasting fact that Aerith was no longer alive... no longer will she laugh innocently or smile so brightly. He wanted to do anything to bring her back... One last time, he whispered her name, his voice pausing for a moment as the pain grew too strong to speak; "Aerith?"  
Nothing.  
She was gone. Her smile frozen for eternity.

Cloud felt the burning in his eyes grow stronger. He couldn't accept any of this. He didn't want to. He wanted this to be a terrible nightmare that he'd wake from in a few hours. But he would never wake from his nightmare. For his nightmare wasn't an actual nightmare but instead a nightmarish life that he was supposed to live out until he died and returned to the planet.

His voice was low and had a sense of desperation and disbelief in it as he spoke.

"This can't be real!"

Sephiroth began to make a speech about the terrible future of the planet and the people on it, including his friends. But Cloud didn't hear a word of it, it all came out as a blur to him, drowned out by the pounding in his ears from the faint beat of his heart.

Every memory he and Aerith shared flooded his mind. The first time they met, the first time he laughed with her. When he rushed into Shinra Headquarters to rescue her, the night in Cosmo Canyon, how he so desperately wanted to tell her that he was always there for her… their date—when he kissed her hand and got to see her shine in the colors of the fireworks during their Gondola ride. And the last time he spoke to her... in his dream. He wanted desperately to try and follow her then, but he couldn't.

Every smile, every glance, every touch, every conversation, everything he and her shared together invaded his thoughts all at once. He cherished everything about her... and now, she was torn from him. And in that moment, Cloud felt as though his heart broke into a million tiny pieces, cutting and scarring his soul for eternity.

As Sephiroth's speech carried on his voice disgusted Cloud more and more. Filling him with a burning anger until his anger and sadness built up inside him, eating at his very soul.

"...Shut up." Cloud growled. He bowed his head closer to Aerith, trembling. Then abruptly looked at Sephiroth, Aerith still in his embrace.

"The cycle of nature and your stupid plan don't mean a thing!"

Cloud slowly began to turn his head back to Aerith's sleeping face.

"Aerith is gone." His voice filled with heartbreak.

"Aerith will no longer talk, no longer laugh, cry... or get angry..."

He tightened his grip, holding her lifeless body closer to his own as he bowed his head again. His body shaking even more. He clenched his eyes shut as he tried to stop the tears from falling.

But as he opened his eyes a glossy texture was already layering over them. A few drops of tears ran down his face and stained the pink dress that once belonged to the woman he was holding. Cloud let out a quite whisper to where only he and the murderer behind him could here,

"What about us... what are WE supposed to do?"

He began to gently rest her on the floor. "What about my pain?" he asked dejectedly as he trembled.

"My fingers are tingling. My mouth is dry. My eyes are burning!"

A few more tears streaked down Cloud's face, leaving droplets on Aerith's pink clothes and Sephiroth turned his head toward Cloud and spoke viciously; "What are you saying? Are you trying to tell me you have feelings too?"

Without hesitation, Cloud stood and faced Sephiroth.

"Of course! Who do you think I am!" Cloud spat. Just as Cloud's words echoed across the vast area, a loud poisonous laugh came from Sephiroth. A cold feeling washed over Cloud's heart as Sephiroth began to speak."Ha, ha, ha... Stop acting as if you were sad." a spiteful smile on Sephiroth's face. "There's no need to act as though you're angry either."

Cloud didn't understand what he meant and didn't care. The pain he was feeling... the heartbreak he was living through... all of it was real. He was real no matter what Sephiroth said... Even though she was gone now, Cloud couldn't help but ask as if in prayer;  
"_Who am I, Aerith?_"

That night Cloud carried Aerith to a clear blue lake.  
He was about to say his goodbye to his light.

She was in Cloud's arms. Her face, resting on his shoulder, his chin on the top of her head. His saddened face was still dampened by the first tears he's ever cried as he carried her farther into the deep pool of water. Leaving the rest of the world behind, not caring what happened to them.

He stopped. But before he let her go he whispered words in a hoarse voice.

"..._I'll never let go_..."

Slowly, he began to lower her body into the cold water. Lowering her legs in first, then her head. As her delicate body began to sink slowly, he backed away, moving his hand to his heart, attempting to stop the painful ache beneath his chest.

The great pain he felt from losing her was the strongest pain the planet felt at that moment in time...


End file.
